Wednesday, January 30, 2013

(Opinion) British National Party: BNP going broke, great!!!

While financial woe is nothing
to cheer about as many of us have found out in the last five years of poor
economic growth and a string of financial scandals that have largely gone
unpunished but an article published by the Independent detailing the British National
Party’s (BNP) apparent financial troubles is a more than legitimate exception
the rule[1].
The BNP, despite their recent rise, have always been a party despised by many Britons,
even among fellow far right groups.

There should be no shock if you
were to witness off the cuff yelps of joy to the news that its leader Nick
Griffin (who is probably as, if not, more unpopular than the party and its
platform itself) suggested in a speech to party faithful that in order to raise
funds, they had to “begin collecting scrap” while comically enquiring “the
price of copper”[2].

While this may seem quite
comical and admittedly satisfying for anybody with a fleeting affinity with the
human race, the BNP’S financial problems are serious to say the least. The BNP
has been in financial arrears for some time since their poor showing in the last general election underlined when
the BNP “declared that at 31 December 2010 it owed £582,961 and had £15,846 in
the bank”[3].
Numbers like these would terminal for a business never mind a well disliked
party short on friends and high on enemies that would like nothing better than
to see the party file for bankruptcy.

The BNP has been in decline for
last three years with many of its members leaving the party exposing deep
division among its leadership and indeed its rank and file. Its decline has been
underlined by gruesome local election defeats with the party losing many of its
local councillors and a MEP (who left the BNP with only one MEP, Nick Griffin).

It’s no real surprise considering the party
platform was, for the lack of a better word, disgusting. No party can really
expect to stay in power at the local level for any amount of time if one of
their councillors can, with a straight face, state their objection to “the
building of new schools in the (Burnley) area because they would encourage
children of different backgrounds to integrate”[4].

While the BNP’s demise is not
so shocking due their unreasonable stance on just about every issue that is
relevant to British people, It is surprising that they’re floundering in an political
and economic climate where far right parties and movements usually thrive.
Matthew Goodwin excellently illustrated this point when he wrote in a guardian
article:

“Consider this: despite
economic recession; despite deep cuts to local services; despite continuing
public concern over immigration; despite high levels of dissatisfaction with
the main parties; despite ongoing political distrust; despite an unpopular coalition
government that includes the Liberal Democrats – home for many protest voters;
despite continuing public anger over the expenses scandal and more recent media
and cash-for-access scandals; and despite a Labour party that has not yet
reconnected fully with its core base – the BNP has completely failed to make
even an electoral squeak. At one time, voters in some parts of the country
appeared willing to back the party. Today, they appear completely uninterested.
In my view, the British National party's quest for electoral success is
finished and Griffin's attempted strategy of "modernisation" lies in
ruins”[5].

In sum, the British National
Party may be in dire straits and may, as many hope (including many of its far
right counterparts), dissolve but unfortunately, the BNP are not the be all,
end all of Britain's far right movement and as Goodwin rightly pointed out, the
real point of focus is “what will emerge to fill the vacuum”[6].